For love of the car

[Peter Serwe]

I haven't been around nearly as long as most everyone who's responded,
but in that short time, no less than 4 SE-R's have passed through my hands.

My first, a '92 charcoal, peeling paint, trashed clearcoat, went from bone
stock to a t25 on de with all kinds of fun supporting goodies.  I kept it
until recently, when after more body damage than I was willing to fix,
I parted it out.

In that time, I also had a red '92 that was bought for $200 from a local
salvage yard and parted out for mold inside, and massive rust all over.

I also bought Matt Judge's old '94 SE-R (NH lic plate: SE-R) found abandoned
at a dealership in Maine after having a 'fuel pump failure'.  That SE-R
was sold
to my then good friend, and the only other SE-R enthusiast in that town.  He
ended up abusing it, swapping a JDM motor in twice, and basically monkey'd
it to death after running it with a leaky radiator and overheating the
motor to
death.  He also gutted a bunch of the interior, which was in really good
shape
on that car.  Needless to say, we're not friends anymore after what he
did to
that inanimate object, and a few other choice things.

Most recently, I had an opportunity to purchase Carson Hanrahan's old track
car.  '91 hardtop, with some goodies and a VE swap.  It's on it's way to
becoming
a full time track car, since I just went down the road of many other
long time
SE-R enthusiasts, and bought myself an '02 P11 Sport in Maui Blue.

The '91 is *still* more fun to drive, but the '02 is really nice,
refined, quiet, and
well, slow.  It doesn't have the feedback the '91 has, but the driving
experience
is still suprisingly fun, and the suspension feels suprisingly good for
being bone
stock, underpowered and overweight, even.

And here's the best reason to be a part of the SE-R Community:

The people.  I challenge you to find a better bunch of people in any
car club, anywhere.  You won't find it in the BMWCCA.  You won't
find it amongst Porsche, Ferrari, or Maserati drivers.  The few Honda
guys I know complain about their fellow enthusiasts.  I have been
lucky enough to catch onto the SE-R Community towards the tail end,
but I already have more friendships that I'll never let go of, centered
around this community, than I have had in previously in my life.

Something about the car attracting a certain type of person, or the people
attracting a certain type of enthusiast.  I can't quite put my finger on it.

I used to hear about that a bit, and there's some stuff immortalized on
various web sites about it, the oldschool guys, the guys who have been
around since the early-mid 90's.  I'm oldschool to someone who bought
their SE-R in 2004/5, and I get to pass on some of the knowledge and
enthusiasm that's been passed on to me.

And yeah, it's about the car, too.

 ;)

Peter

Peter

--
Peter Serwe <peter at easytree.net>
Cheaper, faster, better, pick any two.